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<h1><a name="SECTION0013500000000000000000">
11.5 <tt class="module">filecmp</tt> --
         File and Directory Comparisons</a>
</h1>

<p>
<a name="module-filecmp"></a>

<p>
The <tt class="module">filecmp</tt> module defines functions to compare files and
directories, with various optional time/correctness trade-offs.

<p>
The <tt class="module">filecmp</tt> module defines the following functions:

<p>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
  <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-2248' xml:id='l2h-2248' class="function">cmp</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
  <td><var>f1, f2</var><big>[</big><var>, shallow</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Compare the files named <var>f1</var> and <var>f2</var>, returning <code>True</code> if
they seem equal, <code>False</code> otherwise.

<p>
Unless <var>shallow</var> is given and is false, files with identical
<tt class="function">os.stat()</tt> signatures are taken to be equal.

<p>
Files that were compared using this function will not be compared again
unless their <tt class="function">os.stat()</tt> signature changes.

<p>
Note that no external programs are called from this function, giving it
portability and efficiency.
</dl>

<p>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
  <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-2249' xml:id='l2h-2249' class="function">cmpfiles</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
  <td><var>dir1, dir2, common</var><big>[</big><var>,
                           shallow</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Returns three lists of file names: <var>match</var>, <var>mismatch</var>,
<var>errors</var>.  <var>match</var> contains the list of files match in both
directories, <var>mismatch</var> includes the names of those that don't,
and <var>errros</var> lists the names of files which could not be
compared.  Files may be listed in <var>errors</var> because the user may
lack permission to read them or many other reasons, but always that
the comparison could not be done for some reason.

<p>
The <var>common</var> parameter is a list of file names found in both directories.
The <var>shallow</var> parameter has the same
meaning and default value as for <tt class="function">filecmp.cmp()</tt>.
</dl>

<p>
Example:

<p>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
&gt;&gt;&gt; import filecmp
&gt;&gt;&gt; filecmp.cmp('libundoc.tex', 'libundoc.tex')
True
&gt;&gt;&gt; filecmp.cmp('libundoc.tex', 'lib.tex')
False
</pre></div>

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